


The Two Times Jillian Holtzmann Didn't Believe in Ghosts, and the One Time She Did.

by Sleepwalkingnun



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Angst, Other, i just want to see my favorite characters pretty much emotionally dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 20:44:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7589446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sleepwalkingnun/pseuds/Sleepwalkingnun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jillian Holtzmann has lead a rather lonely life. She doesn't relate to the other kids well--and her experiences with ghosts don't exactly help her reputation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Two Times Jillian Holtzmann Didn't Believe in Ghosts, and the One Time She Did.

Jilly Holtzmann was a lonely 7-year-old. Her mother constantly gave her tips to relate. “Just be yourself!” quickly turned into “let the other kids talk first, Jilly. And don’t...don’t lick them.” No matter how hard the little girl tried, she couldn’t quite get that first impression right. The first 7 years of her life were spent ultimately alone.

Her first friend was Maria, an 8-year-old whom she met at the park one day. They played for hours together. Maria didn’t seem to mind Jilly’s fascination with bugs and wasn’t afraid of jumping from the top of the slide. When the sun finally set and it was time to go home, Jilly couldn’t wait to see her friend again.

“Mommy, can Maria come over to our apartment tomorrow?”

Jilly’s mom thought for a second. “Of course, sweetie. Who is Maria?”

“I met her at the park today! Maria is my friend!” beamed Jilly.

“Oh, I didn’t see her! Were you playing together the whole time?”

“Yes! We caught bugs and had a race! We also played doctor. She had acute appendicitis,” the small girl giggled.

Jilly’s mother paused, thinking carefully about how to answer. “Is Maria a friend that only you can see?”

“The other kids could see her too. They just didn’t want to play with her. Just like they don’t play with me, mom! So we played together!”

“Is Maria your imaginary friend?”

“No, mommy!” Jilly laughed. “Maria said she’s a ghost!”

“Honey, ghosts aren’t real.”

The girl’s face dropped. “Maria isn’t real?”

“I...no. Maria isn’t real.”

“...Mommy, I don’t want to go to the park tomorrow.”

**************************

Jillian Holtzmann was a lonely 16-year-old. Her day-long experience of friendship with Maria left her eager for more, but no way to achieve the desired goal. Jillian’s mother, ever the worrier, tried to rectify the situation by getting a dog. The trip to the shelter was filled with expectations: no big dogs, no dogs that shed, and no puppies. Reasonable for a two-bedroom apartment with a single mother and a teenager that basically filled the puppy role. Jillian wandered into the kennel by herself, eager for a new best friend.

“Hello there, puppers,” she sang in a nasally voice. “Who’s gonna come home with us todaaaaaay?” The dogs all jumped against the cage, desperate for attention. She walked down the line and greeted dogs by their respective tags. “How are you, Bandit? I bet you’re hot under all that fur, Leo. Bella, you are a such a beautiful girl!” The line ended with a shaggy dog that was almost blue-white. Jillian crouched to the old dog’s level and stuck her fingers through the fence. Her greeting was a thick, almost slimy, slobber. “And what would your name be, little fella?” She considered Curie, Franklin, and Lovelace. “You look like a Casper.”

“Jillian? Have you found any potential friends?” her mother called from the other room.

“Eeerrrhmmm...yes. Can we take a look at…” She trailed off when she realized the dog had no tags or clipboard hanging from his cage. “The silver shaggy one?”

An employee dipped her head into the kennel. “The silver shaggy one? Do you mean Baron?” The employee walked further in with keys ready.

“Uh, no. This one that’s not marked.”

The employee stood next to Jillian curiously. “In...this cage? Right here?”

Jillian turned to face a dirty, empty cage. “Uh...Never...nevermind. I haven’t found one yet.”

 

**************************

Dr. Holtzmann was a lonely 32-year-old. She spent most of her time in the Higgins Institute basement, constructing large hadron colliders with no real purpose. She worked 18-hour days, often sleeping on her workbench and living off of coffee and BLTs. She called her mother from the basement (regardless of the bad cell service) to fill the minimum requirement of human interaction she needed to be considered medically sane. “Yes, I saw the article you sent me...This weekend...Emmmmhmmm...I just...It’s not that I haven’t _tried_ , mom. Bars are just a lot scarier than you’d think...Well it’s just like they’re...The girls aren’t on my same wavelength...Yes, I know.”

“Mom, I know. I kn--Oh, my god.” Holtz nearly dropped her phone (and her coffee) when she saw a woman floating before her. “Um, mom. I’m gonna have to call you back.”

The woman floated toward Holtz, arms extended. Her shimmering dress seemed to bloom as if it were made of flowers. Holtz carefully walked from her chair, closer to the woman. Her first instinct was to try to touch her--absurd. Ghosts aren’t real. Of course they’re not real. Maria wasn’t real. Casper wasn't real either. She gripped her coffee tightly and began to sketch plans for her one-woman-department’s next wind turbine.

Still, the woman floated towards her. Holtz ignored the coffee-fueled apparition as best as she could. She could hear a faint, unintelligible whisper coming from the ghost. Jillian’s fists balled as she shook her leg and sang loudly to drown out the illusion. The whisper turned into a gentle voice. Jillian was angry. She wanted to ignore her, but the ghost kept coming. Finally, she couldn’t bare it anymore--

“GET OUT. GET OUT OF MY OFFICE. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT BEING HERE. I’M DOING JUST FINE WITHOUT YOU. GET OUT OF MY OFFICE. YOU’RE NOT REAL.” Her eyes closed as she shouted and swung the nearest wrench. When she finally opened her eyes, breathing heavy, the floating woman was gone.

Jillian sat alone in the basement once more. Sweat was beading on her forehead as she gripped her chair until the knuckles turned white. Silence. The only sound was her gasping for air. The tense air remained until--

“Uhm, is this a bad time?”

Holtz nearly fell out of her seat as she lobbed the wrench near the source of the sound.

“Oh, GOD! God, okay! I can take a hint! I’ll come back later!”

“No, no! Sorry, I just...thought I saw something. I’m just crazy,” Holtz spat out almost reluctantly.

“Saw something? Like what?”

“Errm...A lady. A very pretty, floating lady. I haven’t slept in a couple of days, so it was just my overactive imagination.”

“A pretty, floating lady? Like a ghost?” The woman asked curiously.

“If you believe that kind of thing, sure. A ghost.”

“Huh. Okay. I’m Dr. Abby Yates, the new paranormal studies professor here. And Holtzy, my friend, I think you just saw a ghost.”

Dr. Holtzmann was a lonely 32-year-old. A 32-year-old whose smile, in that moment, could be seen by the undead.


End file.
